Annie 20th Anniversary Revival Casting Controversy- Page 2

[Harpz2006]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:09pm

I clearly remember this drama- I was eight years old, and my grandma too my sister and I to see the out-of-town tryout in Baltimore. I knew all about Joanna from the ABC 20/20 special that had all the girls auditioning for Annie... I still remember they had to say, "Hey! You stole my shoe!" I saw the show and thought Joanna was amazing. My dad told me the next day she got a poor review in the Baltimore Sun for being "wooden." I also remember the news clip not long after that she was being replaced... and it was very melodramatic and previews on ABC were like, "SHOCKING AND DEVASTATING NEWS... Annie fired" and showed Joanna bawling. It was very disturbing and Joanna was clearly heartbroken. Here's a clip of her Idol audition... sad that she was dropped by her record label too... I feel like she's had it rough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPSpREQl9NA

[newintown]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 12:12pm

She's had bushels more public exposure than 99.99% of the other generic girl singers her age. If she can't make a career, she can't "blame" anyone but herself. Maybe she could find happiness as something other than an entertainer.

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 8:54pm

what is the Challengr? it has been metioned twice in this thread as being "Challenger disaster"? can someone explain???? thanks!

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 9:02pm

Challenger disaster

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 9:46pm

wonderwaiter <3

[Ghostfan2]

Posted: 7/20/12 at 10:17pm

I would love to see Joanna Pacitti perform on broadway. Great voice

[gotasecret]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 6:27pm

...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 6:41pm

There was even more drama in the original. Once McArdle left, the actress that took over (was it Shelly Bruce?) played the role awhile. The producers were infuriated when her mother trumped them by announcing that the actress was leaving the show.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 6:43pm

The whole special that Barbara Walters did on the revival is available on that orphan site ran by Julie Stevens. It's very interesting to watch. Kissinger looked like such a cutie on stage, and while Joanna had a powerful belt I heard her acting was pretty stiff. Charnen looke pretty tough to deal with I wonder what he thinks about this new revival?

[nicthediva]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 7:14pm

Mind sharing the link to the video?

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 7:31pm

I would also love to watch the Walter's interview. Linkage! :)

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 7:33pm

Here's part one


Turning Point Barbara Walters Annie Special Updated On: 7/31/12 at 07:33 PM

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 7:35pm

Pt.2 Updated On: 7/31/12 at 07:35 PM

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 7:36pm

Pt.3

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 7:38pm

Pt.4

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 7:39pm

Greatly appreciated!!

[goldenboy]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 12:37am

Thanks for posting those 20/20 clips. I vaguely knew about this
Watching the auditions she was indeed the best choice for the part.
Not knowing the story.. I said she is the one that should play the part.
Based on her audition and the clips I saw, she was a great Annie.
Show Business can really suck.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 1:01am

Then she got kicked off American Idol for bizarre "conflict of interest" reasons. She was dating Mark Ballas od "Dancing with the Stars, and Mark's band, the Ballas/Hough Band (with Derek Hough) were recording songs written by Idol judge Kara Dioguardi.

Other random fact: The original "Sandy" from that revival also got fired. Pacitti adopted him. She used to post in the old AOL Playbill On Line chat room as "ZapJo" - a combination of her name and the dog's name, Zappa.

[bobs3]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 2:20am

"The revival certainly showed that Charnin must have had a lot of help/oversight from someone more talented on the original, which was directed with an appropriate bright and fast tone. For the revival, Charnin seemed to want to depress the audience simply because the show takes place during the Depression."

It is an open secret that Mike Nichols polished the original production until it shined with perfection.


Updated On: 8/5/12 at 02:20 AM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 3:29am

Jon,
If you go back and reread my previous post, pulling from Berloni's book. The dog, Zappa, was not fired. After Pacitti was let go, Berloni pulled Zappa from the show and gave him to Pacitti.

[Nettik]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 12:00pm

Has Kissinger done any productions since Annie? I know that she starred in a community youth theatre production of The Little Mermaid in Galway, NY about a decade ago, but I haven't heard anything about her since then. (I was in the show in a bit role. There was a lot of casting controversy in it because her boyfriend at the time was playing the prince. However, I remember her being extremely kind to all of the young actors in the show, myself included. I can't say anything bad about her as a person.)

A quick Google search shows that her website's pretty much dead too.

[horselightning]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 8:08pm

Martin said on the 20/20 documentry that he never wanted Joanna replaced.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 8:50pm

Kissinger isn't in the entertainment field anymore, I went to college with her and we shared mutual friends.

[Becky]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 9:12pm

I always wondered if they were pressured to pick someone during that "contest" and hadn't found exactly what they were looking for when they hired Joanna.

I also suspected that the real reason Joanna was let go was that even though they obviously knew she was 12 when they hired her (pressure thing I mentioned above), they weren't going to get much time out of her before she grew out of the role. When they realized they had an 8 year old that could do it, Brittny was much more appealing. They had a short window to "fix" their casting mistake before it would be too late. Imagine promoting Joanna, building up for the big Broadway opening, etc... and then she's almost instantly too old and would have to be replaced anyway. They got an entire Broadway run out of Brittny and a national tour. I still believe it was her age that worked against Joanna, not her acting, chemistry with the Daddy Warbucks (which was one of their claims at the time), or performance in general.

[mb87]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 9:27pm

if ANY of that was the case, the producers did NOT let the public know, and it came off as very shady. It destroyed the run on Broadway.